Book Synopsis
Strengthening Osage Sovereignty: Repatriating Assets, Land & Buffalo addresses the role of the American buffalo in the culture of the Osage people. The discussion begins with the first historical references to the importance and dependence of the Osage people on the buffalo for food, shelter, clothing, economy, and other purposes. The vast destruction of the buffalo as early as the 1870s greatly affected tribal dependence that eventually reinforced seeing the Osage people through a forced reality of "To Plant, or Not to Plant." By 1876, the Osages had reduced their reliance on the buffalo and began acquiring beef cattle, gardening, and planting field crops. In modern times, because of their petroleum resources and other enterprises, the Osage Nation has purchased the former Bluestem Ranch and begun repatriating assets, land, and buffalo to the Osage people.